FACT: The British Columbian economy is booming thanks to liquified natural gas (LNG).
FACT: The necessary infrastructure to capitalize on the boom means thousands of opportunities for the region’s workers to begin careers in the building trades.
OPINION: Union apprenticeships are vital to adequately supporting this growth.
In a recent op-ed for the Vancouver Sun, Tom Sigurdson, Executive Director of the B.C. and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council, detailed the importance of union training programs. With 13 LNG proposals and dozens of other potential projects on the horizon, Sigurdson argues the future is bright for all comers in the province:
From First Nations, to new Canadians, from rural and urban B.C. — we need a new generation of workers who want a career in the highly skilled trades to pick up the tools and continue to build B.C.
Apprenticeships work because they combine practical on-the-job experience with technical classroom instruction — allowing students to earn while they learn while being mentored by certified, ticketed journeypersons training the trades workers of the future.
Sigurdson is glad the Canadian government understands the value of apprenticeship, rather than it being an industry-only (or worse, a union-only) sentiment:
The Government of British Columbia has also realized the value of a skilled workforce in that it provides a significant competitive advantage. Certified, stable and available union workforces increase business confidence and generate new investments. From that economic growth and job creation, new tax revenues are generated which will benefit all British Columbians.
We are pleased to see a renewed focus and commitment to trades training both through implementation of actions in the 2013 report on industry training by newly appointed BC Hydro CEO Jessica McDonald and the government’s Skills for Jobs Blueprint. The Premier has also appointed a special committee of industry, labour, First Nations, and government to focus on training specifically for the LNG opportunity.
Read the entire op-ed here.
